Why this?

The occasional poem of my own and a generous helping of work by others that I find inspiring. Site is named for a beloved book by one of my favorite writers, Italo Calvino, whose fanciful work lights--and delights--my soul.

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Alexandr Blok

One snowy night I was smiled upon by Russian gods & found myself at dinner oppositeThe Moscow scholars a married couple—he only the world’s authority on Pasternak& she the final word on her beloved Alexandr Blok & as we talked the evening gathered Along the length of the white table & I could only keep drinking the conversation in so deeplyI felt myself reaching back into the dark century & at last I got up to leave in my black cashmereOvercoat I’d found hanging on the back rack of a Venice thrift store & became just another shadowAbout to slide wordlessly into the night & yes it’s true it was snowing just in upstate New YorkNot Moscow or St. Petersburg nor in any ancient page yet to anyone who saw me walkingI imagined myself as the most lyrical shadow alive--David St. John, 1949